1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garment in general and, more particularly, to an outerwear, such as a jacket, vest, coat, sweatshirt and the like, with an integral or removable hood for covering a wearer's head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the past few decades, hooded garments have become immensely popular throughout the world due largely to their inexpensive and durable fabrication, structural simplicity, low maintenance, versatility and fashion adaptability. Hardly a household exists anywhere in the United States without at least one hooded garment, particularly garments more popularly referred to as hoodies. The most common hooded garments include hood closing elements typically referred to as drawstrings. Drawstring elements usually comprise linearly woven textile material with terminal ends knotted to avoid unraveling, and often provided with aglets (plastic or metal tips) to prevent unraveling and enable threading.
Drawstrings (also called cords, ropes or strings) are usually added subsequent to fabrication of the basic garment. For example, a hood drawstring can be threaded through a fabric tunnel known as a drawstring channel or hemmed casing. The drawstring is pulled to cinch, gather or close the hood covering about a wearer's head. Tension on the drawstring draws the head covering more tightly, particularly immediately adjacent to the wearer's (exposed) face. The drawstring is positioned to substantially surround a forwardly projected peripheral edge of the hood opening (accommodating the wearer's face). The drawstring passes through the channel adjacent the wearer's head crown and terminates therebelow with a pair of dangling or suspended ends. Drawstring ends may terminate just outside the wearer's neckline or extend downwardly for a relatively short distance along the garment outer chest surface. While readily accessible and operable, such openly exposed drawstrings have recently resulted in millions of such garments being pulled from the marketplace.
In 1996 the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) completed a review of child strangulations resulting from children becoming entangled on drawstrings of upper outerwear garments. The Commission declared such drawstrings a hidden hazard that can lead to deaths and injuries and issued guidelines for drawstrings on children's upper outerwear to help prevent children from strangling or becoming entangled on the neck and waist drawstrings of upper outerwear garments, such as jackets and sweatshirts. Subsequently, CPSC issued warning letters to manufacturers, retailers, and importers of children's upper outwear garments, urging them to make certain the garments do not have hood drawstrings that can pose a strangulation hazard, and a number of recalls ensued.
More recently the Commission revisited and toughened its stance, declaring the drawstring construct to be a substantial product hazard, especially for children. Last year, the fashion industry was faced with CPSC's issuance of formal Federal regulations followed by substantial fines to a significant number of retailers and manufacturers.
As an outcome of the standards imposed by Federal regulation along with aggressive enforcement measures, the marketplace has seen marked changes in garment hood closure construction. One result is that previously convenient and easily manipulated drawstrings are being replaced with snaps, VELCRO® hook and loop fasteners, buttons and elastic bands. In certain designer wear the consumer increasingly sees metal slide locks directly attached to hood tightening tendons adjacent the front and back of a garment hood. These changes have added to garment construction and maintenance costs, complicated the casual hood closure operation, and more than subtly altered the popular and fashionable look of what had become a wardrobe staple.
The need, thus, exists for a simple, yet elegant solution to this problem.